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SAUSBURY, N, C l 1 o-2B,OOO

:C.-X)eJ Jc.~ · i\.,S ' -~ DEC - 7 9 2 .

~ .10JOe1 Jenkins ~~i to leave 1 St Baptist By Rose Post THE SALISBURY POS T

Dr. Joel Jenkins, pastor of First Baptist Church since June 7, 1987, has resigned to accept the pulpit of First

, Baptist Church in Charlot-tesville, Va .

His resig-nation becomes effective Dec. 31, and he as-sumes his new duties in Charlottesville Jenkins the following day. •

His new church, with a total membership of over 2,000 com-pared with 1,500 to 1,600 here, has been without a senior minister for about two years.

One of his first duties there will be to help fill two vacancies -those of associate pastor and director of children's ministries -to bring the ministerial staff to six . First Baptist in Salisbury has four.

But overall, Jenkins says, the church is comparable with the church here and he was not looking for a move .

"God has truly blessed us to allow us to serve with the First Baptist family during this time," he wrote in a letter of resignation to the congregation. "Without seeking any such move, God has clearly revealed that a move for us is indeed appropriate at this time."

"We really have loved Salisbury ," he told The Post today. " We've been here 5112 years and we love it here. It's a gr ea t communi-ty, a great church.''

The Charlottesville church. he said, approached him during the summer and made several other contacts.

"And I said I would at least pray about it ,' ' he said, and he felt he had to "a t least go up and discuss their situation. The more I talked, the more I became convinced that was what I needed to do.

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"I feel the time has come for me to be involved in a new challenge. and I'm certain the church here will move to ever greater heights.,.,

i "It's just been amazing the kind of activity that I have seen in this particular church in 5½ years. These people do anything you ask them to do and more.;·: ' Though he will begin wor.k · in

' Charlottesville in January, the family won't leave Salisbury im-

~·mediately. ' "We'll have to sell our house

here," he said. "before my wife and everybody will totally make the break." A "For Sale" sign has just gone up on their home at 105 Sharon Court in Corbin Hills and they have been offered the use of a furnished house there for six weeks or so.

During his time here Jenkins has been active in Rowan Help ing Ministries and served on the search committee which brought Dianne Scott here as its executive director.

He has also served with the Family Abuse Crisis Council , worked with the local ministerial community and is a former mem-ber of the Salisbury Rotary Club.

Jenkins came to Salisbury from the First Baptist Church of Kings Moun,tain and had a lso served pastorates at Pleasant Ridge Bap-tist Church in Shelby and Momeyer Baptist Church in Nashville. N.C.

He received his bachelor's degree in 1972 from Gardner-Webb College in Boiling Springs , a master of divinity degree in 1975 from Southeastern Baptist Theo-logical Seminary at Wake Forest, and a doctor of ministry degree from Drew University Theologic a l School in Madison, N.J., in 1972.

He has been active in the Baptist State Convention and in the North Roanoke Baptist Associ a tion when he was in that area.

He and his wife, Donna, have three children, Joy, Jay and Jen-nifer.

Dr. Joel Jenkin s

l oel Jenkins: Wit hout eek ing new pastorate, KM mini er leavin g fo r Sa lis bury

By Robert Field Star Staff Writer

KINGS MOUNTAIN - The Rev. Joel P. Jenkins Jr. has wres tled with the notions of commitment and dep~ ure more than once lately.

Last month, Dr. Jenkins, 'n, announced his decision to res ign as pastor of First Baptist Church, Kings Mountain, and accept the call to become pastor of First Baptist Church, Salisbury .

His last day prea ching in Kings Mountain is Sunday.

As a person who values duty and devotion, Jenkin s had some trouble with the idea of leaving the church that has been his home for the past four years .

"I have mixed feelings about leaving

· Cleveland County," Jenkins said interv iew recently. "The pe4pple church have been very genero1* and I thought when I came here that I'd here for the long term . This part icular mo e - I did not seek it."

Indeed, J enkins not only wa111't l for a new pastorate, it was tbe thing from his mind when a committee from the Salisbury cburc approached him about the positi in Janu ary .

Kings Mounta in First Baptist Church was in the midst of a long-term capital gifts fund-raising program called "Continuing the Vision." Jenkins was too busy to . consider leaving.

" I said I couldn't be considered until April or May, thinking they wouldn't

back," said Jenkins. Three months later, however, the committee returned - more convinced than ever tha t Je nkins was the right minister for their church.

The Rev. John Lawrence, a former pastor of Shelby Firs t Baptist Church and cur-rently the interim pastor at Salisbury First Baptist Church, said although members of the search commit tee interviewed several ministers, they "never considered anyone but Joel, really ."

Dr. Lawrence descri bed the Salisbury church as a · large r version of Kings Mountain First Baptist Church. "They have prett y much the same style,'' he said.

The church 's former pastor, Fenton Moorehead, left last J une to become the ·

* See JENKINS Page 2

2-THESHELBYSTAR Wednesday, May'J:1, 1987

Jenkins leav .es Kings -kFrom Page 1

pastor of a large Baptist church near Denver, Colo. The search committee began its work in August and soon narrowed its list of candidates.

Last month, Jenkins preached a trial sermon at the Salisbury church. Afterward, during a business convention, members of the congregation voted unan-imously to call him to lead their church. According to Lawrence, members of the search com-mittee described Jenkins as a good preacher, a good ad-ministrator and "a people person.''

Cline Borders, director of missions for the Kings Mountain Baptist Association and a close friend, predicts that Jenkins "will flourish where he's go-ing ."

Borders, who came to know Jenkins as a fellow member of a support group for local Baptist leaders, said Jenkins has been "productive" in his ministry and "a real asset" to the Kings Mountain Baptist Association .

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"Joel is a very creative person," said Borders. "I'm constantly amazed at the amount of creative energy he has, apparently without any undue stress.''

Jenkins describes his ministry as "people-oriented and peo-ple-based," taking its cue from the depiction of Jesus' life in the New Testament. He quotes D.T. Niles, an Indian theologian, in describing his ministerial phi-losophy: "One beggar telling another beggar where to find bread."

A native of Greenville, S.C., Jenkins is a third-generation preacher. His grandfather, John Henry Jenkins, was a Baptist minister in rural South Carolina for 40 years. His father, Joel P. Jenkins Sr., was pastor of New Hope Baptist Church in Earl, among others.

The senior Jenkins and his wife, Joyce,, are still at it, ministering to American mili-tary personnel and their fami-lies in the Azores, a chain of islands off the coast of Portugal.

Speaking of his family's legacy in the ministry, Jenkins said, "I think that influence has

been very positive on my life. I think it prepared me and gave me some advantages growing up in a pastor's home.''

Like most other preachers' children, however, Jenkins went through a period in which the ministry was the last thing he wanted to do. "I saw him (Joel Jenkins Sr.) leave home too often," he said. "I saw the stress."

As a ninth-grader at the new Crest High School, Jenkins made it clear to his classmates that, despite what his daddy did, he wasn't going to be a goody two-shoes.

"I wasn't a bad kid as such," he said, "but I did · find myself never walking away from a fight and maybe starting a few myself."

Jenkins' father was called to the principal's office more than once to find that his son had gotten into trouble. "I think I was trying to disassociate my-self from the typical life of a P.K. (preacher's kid),"· said Jenkins.

Upon entering Ga - ebb i College in 1968, he decided to ( lftll"l!llle a career in psychology. '

"I thought to myself I would

Mountain reluctantly go into counseling and do the kinds of things a minister would do without the demands of a minister," said J enkins, adding, "It was sort of to soothe my conscience.''

Soon, however, he began to recognize the spirituality tha t had been stirring within him. In his junior year, Jenkin s ac-cepted God' s call to the ministry .

"At that point, I sort of decided there was a direction in my life that was becoming clearer and clearer for me," he said. " I think when you have a sense of call, it's almost inevi-table."

Je nkins gives credit to his father foYnot trying to influence his decision. "He was very careful to not, in any way, try to lead me or push me in that direction," he said. "I know I would have wondered whether it was his call or God's ."

In his senior year at Gard-1er-W ebb, Je nkin s mar rie d )onna Horne of High Point, a mrsing student. After graduat-ng in 1972, he entered South-:astern Theological Seminary in Vake Forest. In 1974, Jenk ins became the

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pastor of a small Baptist church in the Rocky Mount area of the state. In 1979, he returned to Cleveland County to become the pastor of Pleasan t Ridge Bap-tist Church near Lattimore .

In 1982, he began work on his doctorate of ministry through a correspondence program at Drew University in Madison, N.J . In 1983, the congregation of Kings Mountain First Baptist called him to become their pastor.

Since then, the church has gained an additional 150 mem-bers for a total of 1,000. Jenkins, however , is quick to deny credit for these sla tistics. "I just happened to have my hand on the rudder at the time the ship was taking on passe ngers," he said.

Jenkins prefers to talk about the ministries that have flourished at the church . These include serving a local Laotian population, the mentally handi-capped , out-of-town people who are hospitalized locally, nursing home residents and kidney dialysis patients .

"This is a very ministry -oriented group of people, " he said. "They have a real peace

in their hearts. They feel free to help others when they un-derstand what's most important in their life."

Jenkins said leaving these people will be the hardest part a'1out moving. He has high hopes, however, that the con-gregation will become ~ore involved ii,\ the church as a result of his departure .

"I hope they'll become more self-reliant and-rellant on God," he {!iaid. "As the church looks within, I think they 'll become less dependent on the· church leadership. "

s for his own family, Jenkins expects to form new friendships . "You find. what you're looking for in life," he said. "We'll find friendly people in Salisbury, because we've found them everywhere we've been."

Looking back on the experi -ence of his father, who came back to New Hope Baptist Church after a time away, Jenkins has not ruled out a return to Kings Mountain First Baptist Church on ay.

"You never can 11," he said. "I don't want bum my bridges."